Fradley to Fazeley

22nd August

On Friday after another leisurely breakfast we set off with Tamworth being our destination. We had lunch on the go and typically had a few spots of rain just at that time but not enough to stop us eating.

We passed Whittington, where the Coventry Canal becomes the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal for a few miles until Fazeley junction where it goes off to the right, we continued straight ahead where it becomes the Coventry Canal again. We intended going up through the two Glascote locks, but there was a queue of five working boats waiting to go through to get to the Alvecote Historic boat festival. We decided, as time was getting on, to moor up at the bottom and walk to Tamworth station from there so Laura could collect her car, it was only a short way off where we were going to moor anyway.

We said our farewells at the station car park, we had an absolutely fantastic time with Laura and really enjoyed the last couple of days.

James and I carried on up to Alvecote to check out the festival, we decided to moor up a short way before to keep out of the way of the 'goings on', but as it turned out we had our own private parade of boats pass by as they used the winding hole which was a short way behind us.

We went down to the marina both Saturday and Sunday to watch the boats in the winding competition, and Sunday evening the illuminated parade passed by us at around 9pm so I think we had the best view. Bank Holiday Monday was typically raining so we wimped out and didn't venture out.

Historic Boat Festival

The parade

Emu, which was fully laden

And this one is Birmingham, which was empty

Note 1899 - Marquis rammed and sunk Jubilee in Braunston Tunnel

And here's the culprit, the 2nd oldest self powered narrowboat

The illuminated parade

Tuesday morning we left Alvecote early to head back down to Tamworth where James had arranged to take our poorly inverter and charger to be looked at to see if repair was possible. It is surprising how heavy the inverter is, so wrapped in a blanket and secured to our sack trolley we made our way through the industrial park and left them to be looked at.

We spent a night just after the Tame aqueduct and then made our way back to Fazeley Junction and moored opposite the water point at Peels Wharf.

Opposite Peels Wharf

16.5 miles and 4 locks

Total 418.25 and 348 locks